So I’m 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant – due date is Friday, September 26. I have an anterior placenta (meaning the placenta implanted on the front wall of the uterus). This is not a big deal except that apparently babies tend to face the placenta, which usually implants on the back wall of the uterus. So I found out last week that my baby is currently posterior – the back of his head is toward my back. This is bad because it can make for much more painful labor – his hard head, instead of his squishy face, will be pressing against my backbone. Most babies turn during labor, but it’s better if they’re never posterior at all. I’ve looked at some web sites and talked to my midwives…I’m supposed to kneel on the ground, put my arms on a chair, and move my hips from side to side…crawl around on my hands and knees…and do pelvic rocks. My question is, finally, has anyone had any success turning a posterior baby with these techniques?
My first baby was posterior presentation. I did all the exercises that the midwife told me to, but the baby didn’t budge, so she was posterior all the way (ouch). I’ve heard subsequently that acupuncture is meant to be very effective at turning babies around (both posterior and breech). A woman I met at toddler group who is an acupuncturist said that she’s had lots of successes at baby-turning. Might be worth considering…
Good luck.
My last baby was posterior presentation and I was being prepped for a C section when they decided to try to manually turn him in the womb. The nurse pressed on the side of my belly and the doctor did some sort of internal maneuver. Baby flipped around and born about 2 minutes later, all 10 lbs, 3 oz and 23 inches of him.
I’ve worked in OB and have never seen anything similar.
I was turned, like that, while my mother was in labor. My mother thinks that she was a lot more sore afterward than she would have been, if I’d been facing the right way.
Baby #2 was solidly anterior at all of my 3rd trimester checkups. Which made me extra cranky when she went posterior while I was in labor. I was laboring in a jacuzzi tub, so the midwife suggested I get on all fours with my belly in the water. They put ice packs on my back, in hopes that the baby would turn torwards the warmth. They said it worked occasionally.
I don’t believe it did.
She rotated back around much later (it felt much later, was probably more like an hour after I got out of the tub) with no prompting. The incredible rotating baby was born with a hand up by her face. Thanks a lot, kid. Like a head isn’t big enough. But she’s cute, so I forgave her.
My GF’s first baby was backwards.
I’d love to tell you that it was an easy birth.